One of the most popular and most used social media platforms in the world got banned in the U.S for around 15 hours. During his first term in 2020, President Trump wanted to ban the app TikTok. Then ultimately on January 18th, TikTok got shut down temporarily.
There had been rumors for years that TikTok would be banned, which is why many people did not take the ban seriously at first. That was until the senate passed legislation that would force Tiktoks China based company, ByteDance, to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban in the U.S.
“I actually did believe that TikTok was going to be banned this time because it seemed more real than the first 3 times they have threatened to do it,” Maddie Haddox‘28 said.
President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay the TikTok ban. Trump extended the ban by 75 days, hoping that someone from the U.S. would buy the app before the 75 days are up or else they would have to ban the app permanently. TikTok has a very political side and spreads information, which is why Trump changed his mind about what he originally thought about banning the app.
“I was definitely against the TikTok ban because I use it for a lot of things, and it sometimes helps me with my homework. I probably spend 3-4 hours a day on TikTok,” Mckaylin Nyeste ‘26 said.
There have been many people who have been saying they are going to buy Tiktok; whether it is true or just a rumor there has been quite a few people who are offering to buy it. The first person who spoke out about buying the app was famed Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary. Others who spoke out were Elon Musk, Mr. Beast, and Frank McCourt.
“I think that Elon Musk will end up buying TikTok because he has so much money,” Lucas Bertilacci ‘26 said.
Needless to say, Tik Tok is a significant factor in many people’s lives, whether it is someone’s job, or where people get their recipes, or even just videos that help people escape from reality.
TikTok was banned for not even 24 hours. Before it shut down a good variety of influencers were exposing themselves, thinking the app wouldn’t come back. Little did they know it was going to be back in 15 hours.
“I did not really care about the ban I just went to Instagram, however, I think it was useless to ban for 8 hours,” Giuseppe Spano ‘27 said.
